Where To Eat & Drink In Borough

Akara is the follow-up restaurant from Akoko’s Aji Akokomi. Joining Barrafina, Bancone and Vinoteca in Borough Yards, Akara is named after the black-eye bean fritter which has roots in West Africa – and features on the menu. More casual than Michelin-starred Akoko, the 40-cover restaurant champions traditional West African flavours. The à la carte menu offers a variety of akaras with fillings such as chanterelle mushroom pâté, carabinero prawns, and vatapa – a sauce made with bread, shrimp and coconut milk. Mains focus on a selection of barbecued meat, fish and vegetable plates such as aged beef with labu (a paste made from peanuts) and sea bream with nokoss, a Senegalese pepper paste.

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Fancy getting hands on? Parrillan celebrates Spanish cooking over fire. As with its first restaurant at Coal Drops Yard, its Borough Yards site is all about an outside terrace with tabletop ‘parrilla’ grills, where guests can cook ingredients themselves over coals. This Parrillan also has an indoor restaurant, where chefs cook Spanish produce – from whole fish to Galician steaks, arroces and seasonal vegetables – over the flames of a wood-fired grill. A largely Spanish drinks list offers wines, sherries and cavas by the glass and bottle, and there’s also a dedicated G&T menu.

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In April, David Carter – founder of Smokestak and Manteca – opened the doors to Oma, a restaurant inspired by the flavours of the Greek isles and surrounding coastal regions. Drawing its name from the Greek word for ‘raw’, the space features both a crudo bar and a live-fire kitchen. The menu includes hung sheep’s yoghurt with a salt cod XO sauce; hummus masabacha with tahini and green zhoug; gilthead bream crudo with jalapeno aguachile and datterini tomato; yellowfin tuna with clementine and aged soy; harissa-grilled prawns with cucumber and mint tzatziki; and a brown crab borek, baked until the buttery crab centre is gooey. On the fire, butterflied or slow-grilled red mullet is served with red miso butter, while skewered Cornish squid is brushed with a garlic and za’atar oil and finished with a generous dusting of sumac. Simple desserts include olive oil ice-cream with fennel pollen, and rizogalo rice pudding with balsamic black figs. 

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The Borough outpost of Burger & Beyond features all the signature burgers and sides that made the original one of the capital’s best-loved burger restaurants, as well as new dishes such as ‘The Legit Truffle’, featuring a signature dry-aged beef patty, double American cheese, fresh black summer truffle, black truffle butter and port-braised onions. Whatever else you do, order a side of ‘Cheeseburger Wontons & Mac Sauce’ – crispy cheeseburger-stuffed wontons with a classic burger sauce on the side.

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Barrafina’s Borough restaurant follows a time-honoured format: classic Spanish tapas dishes alongside a daily changing specials menu that uses the best seasonal produce available. In line with its sister restaurants around town, seating is up on leather bar stools around a beautiful, marble-topped counter. Original Kate Boxer paintings cover the walls, introducing splashes of vibrant colour to the space. New for the group, a row of tables raised to counter height have been fitted against the back wall to accommodate groups of four, while offering the same view and atmosphere of the restaurant’s typical dining experience.

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Camille is the newest restaurant from Clare Lattin and Tom Hill, the duo behind Soho’s enduringly popular Ducksoup and Emilia in Devon. On Stoney Street, Camille is the pair’s take on French bistro dining, with a menu showcasing provenance-led cooking and seasonal ingredients, and a space that lets window-counter dining take centre stage. The kitchen is led by ex-St John chef Elliot Hashtroudi, whose chalkboard-drawn menu embodies the rustic energy of regional French cooking: think cured pig’s cheek and walnut; Mangalitza chop for two served with blood orange sauce and grilled radicchio; and lemon sole with snail butter. Whatever you do, don’t miss the smoked eel devilled eggs; asparagus with prawn head hollandaise and Torbay prawns; or the crab toast with three cornered leek and bisque. The wine list is all natural, celebrating smaller French producers – and there’s a neat list of aperitifs and digestifs.

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Rambutan is the home of Sri Lankan diaspora cooking in Borough Market, combining rural techniques found across the island with seasonal produce. Cynthia Shanmugalingam’s menu is inspired by her Tamil heritage and London’s immigrant communities, with a focus on open-fire cooking. Shanmugalingam’s debut cookbook Rambutan: Recipes from Sri Lanka won Fortnum and Mason's Best Debut Cookery Book 2023 award, and her restaurant serves many of those same dishes. Highlights? We’d say the buttermilk fried chicken with pol sambol and butter toast, and deep-fried roti with anchovy katta sambol.

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Joining its popular brunch spots in Angel and Spitalfields, Brother Marcus opened its third site in Borough Yards. The group is known for breakfast plates such as the ‘Step Sister’ with sweet potato, courgette and feta fritters, avocado, kale, turmeric yoghurt and a poached egg; and the ‘Brother Special’ with beetroot-cured salmon, scrambled eggs and chargrilled tenderstem broccoli on sourdough. It’s also worth knowing about the Brother Mary – the team’s take on the classic cocktail, drawing inspiration from the eastern Mediterranean by using ouzo and dried molokia (Egyptian spinach) with aleppo chilli for the rim.

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Kolae is a new restaurant from Som Saa co-founders Mark Dobbie and Andy Oliver. The restaurant draws its name from kolae (also known as golae, galae and gaw lae), a cooking style from southern Thailand where ingredients are marinated in a curry-like coconut sauce and grilled over open flames. Signature dishes are prepared in the kolae style, with a variety of proteins or vegetables finished over smouldering coconut to create a rich and aromatic smokiness. Since launching, its sensational barbecued mussel skewers have become a star dish. You’ll also find vibrant curries, fresh small plates and punchy salads on the menu.

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Cult Taiwanese favourite Bao launched its third site on the fringes of Borough Market – and we think it’s the team’s best spot. We love the 40-day aged steak served with Taipei butter rice; the moreish spiced beef butter scallops; prawn shia song – an addictive hybrid of prawn cocktail and doughnut; and best of all, the curry cheese bao, made with fried cheese from nearby Neal’s Yard Dairy, curry sauce, Sichuan oil and fermented chilli. Exclusive to this site is a karaoke room downstairs, plus a Suntory Hi-Ball machine, which pours out whisky and sodas in three flavour combinations, using fruit from the market stalls. Make sure to order a bottle of Bao’s homemade sake for the table, especially if you’re heading downstairs for a turn on the mic.

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Wine bar, shop and restaurant Vinoteca was one of the first places to launch at Borough Yards, bringing with it a global list of wines – with over 25 by the glass – and an unpretentious approach to drinks. Many of the ingredients on its daily changing menu come from the market. The two-storey site offers an informal set-up on the ground floor, with wide bi-fold doors opening onto the street. A mezzanine floor provides a striking view straight down to Southwark Cathedral and has a collection of cosy, deep red banquettes – just the place to sip a glass of red.

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A classic spot for Spanish tapas, the Borough Market outpost of Brindisa doesn’t disappoint. Here since the mid-90s, Brindisa opened its first warehouse and shop in the Floral Hall before opening its neighbouring tapas bar in 2004. Influenced by founder and owner Monika Linton’s early years on Spain’s east coast, Brindisa is a celebration of the varied cultures, landscapes and exceptional foods of Spain. Its lovely terrace is one of the first sights that welcomes visitors to the market and is a great spot to soak up the weekend atmosphere with a tortilla and glass of sherry.

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